


Stop the Projector

by orphan_account



Category: Cuphead (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Bad Ending
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-09
Updated: 2018-02-23
Packaged: 2019-03-15 17:16:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13617984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: The Devil won this round. Cuphead and Mugman are his new lackeys. His debtors are prisoners in the deepest pits of hell, while demons take their places in Inkwell Isle.A regretful King Dice is forced to make an alliance with Elder Kettle. Together, they must find a way to set things right.





	1. Regret

How could this be?

Everything he had worked for now a pile of ashes.

King Dice stared at the smoldering ruin that was once the casino. The devil had new minions now: a pair of adolescent crockery.

He crept closer to the ruins, hearing the sound of childlike laughter and the pop of finger guns. And of course, screaming.

One of the cup brothers was torturing an imp for entertainment.

The devil chuckled, amused by the whole ordeal.

"This isn't right..." Dice's mind raced. "This doesn't feel right." He slowly walked away from his former work place, trying not to be spotted. 

A shadow darkened the otherwise dimly-lit cave. Dice hid behind a giant rock. The figure walked forward and shook his head.

"You didn't do the right thing, boys." A glowing plume of lava shed some light on the guest. A bronze tea kettle?

Dice crept away from his hiding spot. "He-he-hello?" He whispered.

The kettle looked in his direction. "Are you King Dice?" he asked.

Dice was about to jump, but afraid of what might happen if the Devil heard him.

"Quick! Before they hear us!" Dice barked out. He pointed to the light outside.

"Still, that doesn't answer my question."

"I am King Dice," he gasped out before making a break for the exit.

Elder Kettle shrugged and followed Dice.


	2. The Situation

The Elder Kettle had trouble keeping up with King Dice.

Of course, King Dice was a full twenty-five years younger than he was.

"Could you tell me what's going on?" the Kettle began.

"You have to help me," Dice replied. "This shouldn't have happened."

Elder Kettle raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"The Devil shouldn't have won."

"Something I can agree with."

The two walked towards the train tracks. A distant train whistle, one that sounded like the howling of tortured souls, sounded.

"This is your fault, Cube Dome!" A guttural groan said. King Dice stood a few inches away from a possessed train engine. "What did you do with Blind Specter?"

King Dice backed away.

A few cars away from the engine, a pair of pistons emerged. "Yeah, tell us. Where is he?"

"I didn't do it; I swear!"

"Well, then who took him?"

Elder Kettle walked forward. "Casey, would you mind explaining what's going on?"

The train engine cleared his throat, or the train equivalent. "Well, I just came out of the tunnel over there and found our porter missing." 

"Yeah, that thing back there isn't him." One of the pistons said. His brother gestured to a shape near the caboose.

"He's too quiet," the train's skeletal conductor added. "And Specter's blue, not dark gray."

King Dice mumbled something. "He planned this..."

"What?" The entire crew of the ghost train shouted in unison.

"The Devil! This is all part of his plan."

"And that would be?" The skeleton conductor drummed his fingertips on the edge of the train.

"Replace his debtors with his servants and take over Inkwell isle!"

The first piston nudged his brother. "Isn't this tale a bit cliche?"

"But it's true."

T-Bone, the conductor, scratched his head. Or at least attempted to. "Boys, I think he's right."

"You're gonna believe a lounge singer turned huckster?" One enraged, two mildly amused voices answered him.

"Then who did I see dart across the tracks behind the train?" He paused. "Didn't know they could lift Grim Matchstick."

"What did they look like?"

"It was too dark to see anything."

The three others groaned, then whispered amongst themselves for a few minutes.

"Say, we have an idea." The Head of the Train said. "Are you two up to it."

Dice and Kettle were silent.

"I don't know how to interpret that, but... Blind Specter's the only one with keys to Heaven. And since he's trapped in the deepest pit of hell with the others... you need to free them."

"How are we going to do that?" Dice asked.

"Collect keys from every single demon doppelganger. Free everyone. Bring Specter back here. We'll take you to heaven and get the Head Animator to reset everything."

Elder Kettle nodded and proceeded to walk off. King Dice followed behind.

"The Bad news? You're gonna have to kill 'em to get the keys."

Elder Kettle froze in his tracks.

The Blaze brothers nodded. "No one said this was gonna be easy."


	3. Return of the Court

Mr. Wheezy poured himself another glass of rum. (His third in the span of two hours)

"Does anyone else miss the casino?" he slurred.

Whiskey gave a slight groan. "I do -hic-."

Pirouletta pushed the parlor door open and collapsed on a tacky pink sofa. A bottle of vodka slipped out of her hand, thankfully landing on something soft.

The cigar looked up from his drink. He couldn't believe that the entirety of the King's Court could fit inside the tiny room. And comfortably.

The door to the parlor swung open and King Dice entered the room.

"'Bout time you showed up," Chips Bettigan, a stack of poker chips, said. "One more person to wallow in misery."

"That's not why I'm here." King Dice sat down on a chair beside a rather heated poker game. "I need you."

Pirouletta raised her head. "For what? The casino is smoldering heap of ruins. We can't go back."

"What she said," a living eight-ball added.

King Dice rubbed his temples. "Not for that, for something else."

"And that would be?" Whiskey asked.

"Getting the world back on track,"

The King's Court struggled to hide their laughter.

"Fine, I'll slay the Doppelgangers myself," Dice grumbled.

"Kill, you say?" Mangosteen, the living eight ball replied.

"And loot the bodies?" Pip and Dot, two halves of a domino, chirruped.

King Dice sighed. "I guess you can loot them."

The crowd shuffled out of the parlor, just as a maid entered. She gritted her teeth. They left and forgot to clean up after themselves. Alcohol bottles, cigar stubs, and miscellaneous refuse littered the floor.

* * *

The Debtors sat in some sort of waiting room. A phonograph blared off-key ragtime music somewhere in the distance. Other than that, no sound could be heard.

A devil receptionist sat against the back wall, filing her nails and reading a cheap novel. Gold doors, leading to some kind of elevator, lay beside her desk. She looked up from her book at the crowd.

"Oh, hi, didn't notice you guys!" She said. Her voice was high and obnoxious. "I'm Lilith and welcome to Hell." She set the file down before continuing her speech. "Now the Big Guy told me all about you."

The crowd cringed.

"You owe him your immortal souls and you didn't pay up. Now you're going to suffer here for the rest of your natural lives. The others are downstairs preparing your accommodations and when they're ready, I'll call your names." She said all of that with the biggest smile on her face.

The elevator rumbled up to the waiting room floor and a pair of demon guards exited.

Lilith thumbed through her paperwork. "Front to back, gentlemen?"

The guard closest to her nodded. "Can't have our guests escaping, now can we?"

"Nope!" She giggled, grasping the first file in the drawer. "Let's see..."

**Author's Note:**

> I had the weirdest idea for a Dark Souls-esque Cuphead tale, so I'm writing one now.


End file.
